# Isaiah Washington is a braying jackass. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 28, 2007, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isaiah-washington-is-a-braying-jackass/409810 "2007-06-28T19:28:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CJJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecc23a/32.png) [@CJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CJJ)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2007, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isaiah-washington-is-a-braying-jackass/409810/1 "2007-06-28T19:28:53Z")
Let me start by saying I never have watched a full episode of _Grey’s Anatomy_. But after reading story after story about Isaiah Washington–since his caustic and public feud with homosexual castmate Patrick Dempsey last November, to his use of the f-word in describing Dempsey at the Golden Globes, to his non-stop “public statements” released in the wake of his firing from the ABC medical drama–I thought I had heard just about enough, and I wasn’t really paying that much attention to begin with. That is, until [this Newsweek column](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19466829/site/newsweek/page/3/), in which Washington played the race card: > [@](#): > > Well, it didn’t help me on the set that I was a black man who wasn’t a mush-mouth Negro walking around with his head in his hands all the time. I didn’t speak like I’d just left the plantation and that can be a problem for people sometime," he says. "I had a person in human resources tell me after this thing played out that ‘some people’ were afraid of me around the studio. I asked her why, because I’m a 6-foot-1, black man with dark skin and who doesn’t go around saying ‘Yessah, massa sir’ and ‘No sir, massa’ to everyone? It’s nuts when your presence alone can just scare people, and that made me a prime candidate to take the heat in a dysfunctional family.’’ For anyone who still wondered if Washington was the victim in all this, you need look no further than the above statement. This is the sort of mealy-mouthed, self-righteous claptrap you usually find from folks who are genuinely amazed when they learn that others don’t think they’re God’s gift to the world. Perhaps, Isaiah, people were afraid of you around the studio not because you weren’t Uncle Tom, but because, you know, you’re a raving lunatic? Yes, I’m sure if he were reading this, his paranoia would lump me in with the rest of the racists who are so obviously sabotaging his career. It is certainly racist to ridicule a man because he is black, but is it racist to ridicule a black man because he’s a braying jackass? ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2007, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isaiah-washington-is-a-braying-jackass/409810/2 "2007-06-28T19:42:34Z")
[QUOTE=CJJ\*] Let me start by saying I never have watched a full episode of _Grey’s Anatomy_. But after reading story after story about Isaiah Washington–since his caustic and public feud with homosexual castmate Patrick Dempsey last November, to his use of the f-word in describing Dempsey at the Golden Globes, to his non-stop “public statements” released in the wake of his firing from the ABC medical drama–I thought I had heard just about enough, and I wasn’t really paying that much attention to begin with. [/QUOTE] Just a note: the slur was used against castmate T.R. Knight, who came out after the whole thing hit the press. Patrick Dempsey, who defended T.R. Knight on the set, is currently married to Jill Fink and has three children. Carry on. (And I’ll miss Burke, but God, I’m glad Isaiah Washington’s gone. What an utter piece of crap. :mad: ) ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2007, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isaiah-washington-is-a-braying-jackass/409810/3 "2007-06-28T19:47:51Z")
The fact is, if he hadn’t called the guy a faggot, he’d still be on the show. Period. That other stuff could theoretically be a reason for a racist member of cast or crew not to like him personally, but to claim it played a part in his dismissal is ridiculous, and a crutch for those who don’t want to take responsibility for their actions or comments. He knows his big mouth fucked him out of millions, and can’t face the fact its his own fault, so its gotta be the man’s fault. What a dick. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2007, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isaiah-washington-is-a-braying-jackass/409810/4 "2007-06-28T19:55:10Z")
It would be hilarious if he weren’t completely serious. It reads like the kind of wild, race-baiting overreaction that a black character might give to Larry David on “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” in response to some innocuous comment he’d made. Only on that show it would be played for laughs. The guy’s obviously pissed off, knows he fucked up, and is falling back on the one ace-in-the-hole rationale he has left (racist conspiracy), rather than face his own brainlessness. ---
**Author:** ![tremorviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@tremorviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tremorviolet)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2007, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isaiah-washington-is-a-braying-jackass/409810/5 "2007-06-28T20:12:54Z")
The best part is now Isaiah is caliming TR Knight orchestrated the entire thing, playing victim for the media in a attempt to get a raise, more substantial storylines, and get both Isaiah and Patrick Dempsey fired. And that all the castmates agreed with him (Isaiah) and are secretly scared of TR Knight. > [@](#): > > Then last night he filled in the details. Washington said he stood behind everything he said in his hometown paper, the Houston Chronicle. “I’m not firing back at anybody else in the cast but T.R. Knight and Katie Heigl because they both know as well as Chandra Wilson knows that T.R. Knight was very tactical in trying to remove me from the show because he knows and I know that I was gagged, and he has been working on a conspiracy to get Patrick Dempsey and myself off the show for the last year and a half.” > [@](#): > > And even to this day, Patrick Dempsey and T.R. still have a rift and are still not on speaking terms. They do not talk to each other…I know Patrick Dempsey has supported me by stating that if there is anyone that needs to be fired it is T.R. Knight because he has created such a negative environment on that set because he felt like he has not been treated and giving the same kind of leading man type of story lines that have been given to Patrick and Isaiah. He felt like his character has been treated very caricatureish and dopey. That’s why you see his character changing so signifcantly…This is something that T.R. Knight has been trying to do and using the incident of the so-called F-word that was targeted at him, which is a flat out lie, to blackmail the writers into doing his bidding, and it’s not working. The producers are not happy about it, and quite frankly, they think something has gone awry with T.R. Knight… But all of them, including the producers all the way up to Touchstone, are not happy. [source](http://www.keithboykin.com/arch/2007/06/22/isaiah_washingt) He’s a tool. ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2007, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isaiah-washington-is-a-braying-jackass/409810/6 "2007-06-28T20:34:47Z")
This is the sort of after-the-fact reaction that can only make the produces think, “Wow! Did we make the right decision there or what??” followed by much high-fiving and brow-mopping that he’s gone. The problem with being an asshole after you’re fired is that it makes the firing seem like an act of pure genius. Better to be gracious and move on with class, while privately thinking, that’s right: I’m awesome and you lost me, so suck on _that_. My philosophy of break-ups is similar. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2007, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isaiah-washington-is-a-braying-jackass/409810/7 "2007-06-28T20:42:16Z")
Dempsey is, however, as queer as a two dollar bill, meaning he isn’t, but a lot of people think he is. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2007, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isaiah-washington-is-a-braying-jackass/409810/8 "2007-06-28T20:49:16Z")
Isaiah Washington should join the Dope. His increasingly bizarre and irrational statements - in the wake of an initial offense that was bad but hardly unforgivable - remind me very much of a SDMB poster meltdown. The crazy thing is that he’s mouthing himself out of a career here. What other movie or TV director would _possibly_ throw himself into a project with this dipshit now? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2007, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isaiah-washington-is-a-braying-jackass/409810/9 "2007-06-28T20:51:38Z")
Anybody else glad they’re not working on this show? (It’s Minority Wars! In 3-D! Coming soon to a theatre near you!) ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2007, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isaiah-washington-is-a-braying-jackass/409810/10 "2007-06-28T20:54:00Z")
[QUOTE=OneCentStamp] The crazy thing is that he’s mouthing himself out of a career here. What other movie or TV director would _possibly_ throw himself into a project with this dipshit now? [/QUOTE] Well, he’s filming one movie right now, but [the outlook isn’t good…](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1014766/) ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2007, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isaiah-washington-is-a-braying-jackass/409810/11 "2007-06-28T21:05:01Z")
[QUOTE=featherlou] Anybody else glad they’re not working on this show? (It’s Minority Wars! In 3-D! Coming soon to a theatre near you!) [/QUOTE] Plus, if you’re the marquee star, apparently you’re never allowed to eat (poor child). ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2007, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isaiah-washington-is-a-braying-jackass/409810/12 "2007-06-28T21:23:14Z")
[QUOTE=tremorviolet] The best part is now Isaiah is caliming TR Knight orchestrated the entire thing, playing victim for the media in a attempt to get a raise, more substantial storylines, and get both Isaiah and Patrick Dempsey fired. And that all the castmates agreed with him (Isaiah) and are secretly scared of TR Knight. [source](http://www.keithboykin.com/arch/2007/06/22/isaiah_washingt) He’s a tool. [/QUOTE] That’s one powerful Hollywood Gay Mafia. Let me say this, before the thread gets overlong and someone else beats me to it: Al Sharpton is a race baiter.\* Seriously, it’s about time someone not only suffered the consequences of their bigotry (which they are as free as they want to be to express privately), but, in the sense he _assumed_ he’d be aided and abetted by those around him that turned out to be conscientious and progressive when he fucked, he got called on it, to the tune of millions. - You’ll see. ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2007, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isaiah-washington-is-a-braying-jackass/409810/13 "2007-06-28T21:36:48Z")
It’s more apparent how bad he screwed up after reviewing his [credits](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0913460/). Sure he’s worked steadily for a while, but the closet thing to a gig like Grey’s Anatomy is well…hard to say- his role in Romeo Must Die? Wild Things 2? Trois 3? ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2007, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isaiah-washington-is-a-braying-jackass/409810/14 "2007-06-28T21:40:30Z")
What ever happened to “Sorry I said that. I was having a bad day, he pissed me off, and I lashed out with the worst thing I could come up with”? (Obligatory humorous line) Ahh…so the Pink Conspiracy brings down another one! -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Sad\_and\_Deranged](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@Sad\_and\_Deranged](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sad_and_Deranged)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2007, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isaiah-washington-is-a-braying-jackass/409810/15 "2007-06-28T21:43:55Z")
[QUOTE=Merijeek] What ever happened to “Sorry I said that. I was having a bad day, he pissed me off, and I lashed out with the worst thing I could come up with”? [/QUOTE] Oh, those people\* would never issue an apology without making it seem like it wasn’t their fault they made a bad judgement call. \*those people referring to actors, of course ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2007, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isaiah-washington-is-a-braying-jackass/409810/16 "2007-06-28T21:58:01Z")
First, of all his problem wasn’t just his use of that word during the disagreement on set, but repeating it in front of the cameras at the Golden Globe awards. And then he claims that he was fired due to racism on the part of the studio. I find that hard to believe when the show’s creator and producer, Shonda Rimes, is herself a black woman. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2007, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isaiah-washington-is-a-braying-jackass/409810/17 "2007-06-28T22:03:45Z")
[QUOTE=Dewey Finn] I find that hard to believe when the show’s creator and producer, Shonda Rimes, is herself a black woman. [/QUOTE] Well, clearly, she is an Aunt Tom. :rolleyes: \<— not at you ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2007, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isaiah-washington-is-a-braying-jackass/409810/18 "2007-06-28T22:30:35Z")
[QUOTE=dropzone] Dempsey is, however, as queer as a two dollar bill, meaning he isn’t, but a lot of people think he is. [/QUOTE] That simile is replete with win, and I would use it except we really don’t have $2 bills here anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2007, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isaiah-washington-is-a-braying-jackass/409810/19 "2007-06-28T22:40:11Z")
[QUOTE=matt\_mcl] That simile is replete with win, and I would use it except we really don’t have $2 bills here anymore. [/QUOTE] He’s queer as a toonie! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Who](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Doctor\_Who](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Who)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2007, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isaiah-washington-is-a-braying-jackass/409810/20 "2007-06-28T22:43:53Z")
Can I ask a question? It seems to me that Washington fucked up, slurring his castmate (Knight) and getting into a fight with Dempsey over it. The producers called him in and said, “make nice, or you’re out.” He made nice. He made a little Public Service Announcement about tolerance and all that. Then they wrote him out at the end of the season. It seems to me that, in Washington’s mind, he did what they asked him to do - he jumped through all their hoops - and they still ditched him. And that’s why he’s so angry and belligerent. That’s not at all to diminish what he did wrong, or rationalize it away, or say, “it’s the producer’s / TR / Shonda Rhimes’ fault.” Just to say, without condoning his actions or statements, that I can understand why he’s so angry. Anybody agree? Disagree? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isaiah-washington-is-a-braying-jackass/409810.md?page=2)